the swiss vegetable peeler, rex . . .

the swiss zena rex vegetable peeler, created by
alfred neweczerzal |*1899 †1959| . . .

in the early 1930s, a young man by the name of alfred neweczerzal started making small kitchen tools in his basement in zurich. alfred was born in davos, switzerland. his parents were czech immigrants to switzerland. his family moved to zurich when he was thirteen. he became a market vendor of household items and was originally producing mayonnaise and cream whippers and as early as 1931 he had purchased a punching machine and set up a small workshop in a house in zürich wiedikon. he began producing the famous vegetable peeler in the mid-1940s, patenting it in 1947. neweczerzal created a company called zena that was family owned and run, until 2021 . . .

in 2020, zena located in affoltern am albis (near zurich), had approximately a dozen or so employees, but still manufacturing 2 million units a year. then in 2021, zena was purchased by another swiss design centric company, victorinox. the seventy year old swiss vegetable peeler, rex, is found in many permanent collections of design museums across the world including, among others: the galerie nationale du grand palais in paris, the museum of modern art in new york and the design museum in zurich . . .

the design museum in zurich, guide:
zena’s rex vegetable peeler

zena’s rex, king of the kitchen, in german:
der king der küche . . .

posted 4 April 2022

categories design